


where it wasn't supposed to be

by ddullahan



Series: RWBY Character Study [2]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Again, Character Study, F/F, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Post-Volume 5 (RWBY), Reunions, Unresolved Emotional Tension, baby gays trying their best, blake gets an honorable mention because i love her
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-28
Updated: 2020-01-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:55:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22447528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ddullahan/pseuds/ddullahan
Summary: a smile is a mask, poorly constructedas any chromium casque turns rustedwith enough heavy rain to stain it red.One-shot character study of Ruby during Volume 5 because I miss them
Relationships: Ruby Rose & Yang Xiao Long, Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee
Series: RWBY Character Study [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1615261
Comments: 8
Kudos: 94





	where it wasn't supposed to be

**Author's Note:**

> Companion piece to my Weiss one-shot 'i found'.
> 
> I'm not giving up on Atlas Shrouded, but this one-shot has been eating away at me for a while and I really wanted to get it out before my classes engulf me XD Hopefully this makes sense, I still haven't slept lol
> 
> Also if you haven't read my Weiss one-shot, you don't have to read to get the context, this one just starts in a familiar place and runs alongside it :>
> 
> As always, y'all are amazing and thank you for reading my stuff <3 Let me know what you think!

* * *

Fear rises in many forms. It lingers in the dusty corners of a mind unchecked. Crouches beneath desks full of flimsy boxes. Paper memories eschewed away for a rainy day. Its long spindly fingers tapping away at the varnish as if to summon a spot of thunder. It lies in the darkening hours that sift across creaky floors like ghosts, shadows clinging to corners as black cloth drapes over the dead. She still felt it like a stale scent in a familiar room.

Everywhere.

Nowhere.

She never could rid herself of the taste of ash. There were too many embers on the wind. Or was it snow? 

Where was she again?

Ruby blinked, coming back to herself. She tasted gunpowder, not ash. Hard brown leather scraped against her knuckles, a mass of golden locks obscuring her vision. Yang's grip on her tightened like an anchor, grounding her with strength and warmth.

Guilt choked her, reminding her where she was. How Yang had showed up out of nowhere with Weiss and Qrow. How seeing her sister had sent something cold and dark plummeting into her stomach. It triggered a deep and visceral uproar amongst Ruby's carefully packed boxes of emotion. She'd broken before the first word was spoken, and Yang hadn't wasted any time in soothing her.

Sobs still clung to the back of Ruby's tongue, tripping over her teeth to be freed. Her body hollowed itself with release, scooping out the tar-like guilt that dripped over the walls of her carefully organized heart. Ruby sunk deeply into her sister's arms and there she stayed, basking in warmth she'd sorely missed. Yang was a pillar made of stone; yet softness still bled out where it mattered. Her voice, her embrace, the circles drawn over Ruby's cloak; spiraling out and then back in. Ruby unconsciously matched her breathing to the touch. She grew calmer with each completed spiral, her wailing dying down to a soft sniffling.

She found it strange how everything could seem so contained, until it wasn't. Her chest felt hollow, her body spent as if she'd been fighting for hours. She pulled back from Yang with a weak smile, wiping at her eyes vigorously.

A small noise caught her attention, Ruby's head popping over Yang's shoulder to see.

A different kind of sinking feeling took up into her stomach. Something low and fluttering that dropped into place like it had a home there. Ruby couldn't help the smile that split her wet cheeks, silver eyes gleaming as she took in the ragged appearance of her partner. 

"Weiss." She croaked, holding her arm out wide as an invitation. Yang followed suit, matching her grin.

Weiss' expression crumpled gracelessly with happiness, and to Ruby's shock, she came barreling for them with pure abandon. She was so enthusiastic that they knocked heads by accident, a giggle hiccuping from Ruby in surprise as her partner burrowed into her. She wrapped her free arm around Weiss tightly, mentally reeling at the fact that she was taller than her now. She closed her eyes and breathed in the scent of sweat, dirt, and musty iron from her clothes. There was a trace of Weiss she could still detect underneath the outdoors - a telltale perfume of mint and sharp winter pine that always seemed to coalesce around her. Ruby had never expected a simple smell to bring tears to her eyes, but the familiarity brought forth images of their dorm room back at Beacon. One of the first pleasant memories of Beacon she'd had in months.

Yang's muscular arms engulfed the both of them, snapping Ruby from her stupor. She let the tears fall, watery laughter rising from each of them.

Ruby wished she'd known that home had been chasing her the entire time.

* * *

Yang ghosted the second there was mention of hot showers, and Ruby didn't blame her. Much. She still made Yang promise to take less than an hour in the shower. It was for the good of everyone, really. Weiss needed hot water too.

Which, yeah. That was a thing. Kind of.

Okay not really a thing, but just... Ruby gave her some spare pjs. It should've been nothing, but for some reason it became a thing when Weiss appeared in the hallway in reds and whites like a handprint in the snow. The sleeves absolutely swallowed her hands, the length of Ruby's shirt reaching mid-thigh. Her hair was loose from its ponytail, falling over her shoulder and back like a curtain of white silk. Her scar stood stark pale amidst the flushed pink of her skin, probably scrubbed raw just to delete the dirt of imprisonment.

Had she always been so pretty?

They locked eyes across the room, and Ruby would keep turning that moment over and over in her head late into the night. Something shifted in her; whether it was the planet's axis or just the world within herself... She honestly wasn't sure she was ready to know.

Dinner was a breath of fresh air with two new faces to add to the old conversations. Ruby had been content to just listen and laugh, but Weiss, as always, captured her attention like nothing else. She kept looking to her partner, noticing the little differences time had given Weiss while she was away. She smiled easier, her voice was gentler. She tolerated Ruby's hyperactivity with fondness instead of contempt.

Ruby wasn't entirely sure what to do with it. She'd always known Weiss had a beautiful heart underneath her frosty layers, but she'd never expected to see it in person.

It was overwhelming. She couldn't count the number of butterflies that lanced through her gut when Weiss held her hand. She was pretty proud of herself for staying relatively still for it; though she did take to flexing their fingers together to convince herself it was real, earning her an amused side glance from her partner. She didn't particularly notice, too dizzy with giddiness throughout the rest of dinner to care.

After such an emotional day, Ruby was convinced that she'd have the best sleep in the world that night. Her partner was asleep in the room over, her sister passed out across the hall. Two of the most important people in her life, back once more. There was nothing more relieving than that.

* * *

She dreamt of Beacon. Of hallways bathed in warm reds and golds, a man in green smiling at her over a pair of round glasses. She dreamt of her dorm room, four oddly placed beds and sunlight streaming through the parted, stitched curtains. The smell of lavender and firewood engulfed her as Yang sprinted past without a hello. Blake's cool presence brushed past her silently, leaving a shadow of herself in the middle of the room that gave a wide, toothy grin. Weiss was on her bed, studying as always. Ruby gravitated towards the familiarity, sitting on the edge of Weiss' bed as Blake's shadow clone dissolved into a rose. 

Weiss didn't seem to notice her presence, fast asleep on her books. Ruby tried shaking her, but she was cold to the touch. So cold it burned. Ruby snatched her hand back, her eyes widening.

"W...Weiss?" She whispered.

She shook her again, her heartbeat ticking up a notch. The cold sunk deep into her palm and there was frost on Weiss' books. Her body was so still she could have been dead, if not for the slow rise and fall of her back. Still Ruby tried to wake her, again. And again. Calling for her. Voice rising to a scream. 

The light from the window snuffed out. Blocked by a body blacker than the void, red eyes burning through the glass. Bone gleaming and dripping ichor. Laughter echoed around Ruby as she screamed for Weiss to wake up, shaking her partner despite the cold now crawling up her arms. Freezing her inside out, burning, burning -

"Ruby?"

Ruby jerked awake so fast she had Crescent Rose cocked and aimed before she even opened her eyes. 

Weiss stood in the middle of her room with her hands raised. Crystal blue eyes once bleary with sleep, but now wide as the scope of Ruby's weapon lined with her head. 

Ruby blinked, the fog of her dream clearing. She quickly applied the safety, setting Crescent Rose aside and combing her trembling hands through her hair.

"S-Sorry, sorry I'm awake, I'm sorry Weiss I didn't -"

"Shut up."

Ruby's jaw snapped shut, blindsided by the return of Weiss' old bite.

Her pale haired partner shook her head, grimacing slightly. She said in a softer tone, "Move your weapon, please."

Confused but obedient, Ruby set her compacted scythe to the floor gently. Weiss shuffled over, and Ruby finally noticed she had ditched her pj pants, wearing the long shirt as a nightgown. Her dainty feet seemed to glide over the wood floor as she approached, and Ruby let out a surprised squeak. Her chest had seized with nerves, leaving her to wonder if this was how she was meant to die. Heart attack seemed like a better way to go than to admit she'd been staring a bit too long as Weiss' bare legs.

Said pale girl huffed, placing her hands on her hips and staring.

"Well?" She said, raising a perfect white eyebrow.

"W-well what?" Ruby stammered, thankful that the dark room hid her flushed cheeks.

"Are you going to move over, or do I need to move you with a glyph?"

Ruby's eyes widened, jaw popping open. "Um -"

"Don't be weird about it, I'm trying to be tactful!" Weiss hissed, her voice betraying her fluster. 

Ruby couldn't help the snort that left her, but quieted down as Weiss started shuffling in place. She seemed to collect her thoughts

"Ruby..." Weiss sat on the edge of her bed, trailing off. 

Ruby tried not to think of the deja vu hovering at the edge of her consciousness. She picked at the threads of her sheets instead.

Weiss continued, blue meeting silver for a beat. "... I... I get them too."

Dread had never felt more like a rock she had to swallow. Ruby looked away quickly, her breath coming in quick rasps. "I-I don't know what you're talking about. I'm fine, Weiss." She gave a shaky smile, convincing exactly no one.

Her partner scooted closer, reaching out and tangling their fingers together. Ruby's pulse kicked up a furious tempo, but she couldn't look away. This Weiss was different from dream Weiss. She was softer. Warmer. Ruby felt exhaustion pull on her bones, her shoulders drooping forward.

"You're burnt out, Ruby," Weiss said softly, her own bruises clear under her eyes. "And frankly, so am I. We can't keep this up."

Ruby looked at their hands, slowly turning them over and tracing the pale lines of bones across the back of Weiss' hand. She felt her voice come out, smaller than she'd expected it to be. 

"Can we just...sleep? I...I don't think I can talk about it."

Weiss smiled, the corners of her eyes crinkling. Even in the dark, her pale skin seemed to glow with beauty. Ruby wasn't sure if she was crazy tired or if that was just an opinion she had now. That Weiss was beautiful.

_That's something for Tomorrow Ruby to deal with,_ she thought, scooting over to make room for her partner.

Mint and winter pine clung to the roof of Ruby's mouth as Weiss shimmied into place beside her, long hair shifting over her clothes and gleaming silver against the waning moonlight. Ruby fell to her side of the pillow sleepily, already blinking slow. Weiss drew the blankets up over them and settled in, keeping a bit of distance between them.

Ruby felt the fog return, less oppressive than before as it gently coaxed her down into unconsciousness. She burrowed into the quiet comfort, mumbling blearily, "You're really pretty, Weiss... thought you should know.."

She vaguely registered Weiss stiffening beside her. Already slipping into darkness, she heard a faint _tch_ and a felt soft touch to the back of her hand. 

"Just sleep, you dolt."

Ruby did so with a faint smile on her face. And if she woke up at dawn with a face full of pristine white hair and a leg slung over her hips, well.

That's a whole nother story.


End file.
